Monthly Archives: October 2012

Happy Monday everyone! Welcome to day 11 of my 13 Days of Halloween! I have a really special DIY for you all today, Scrappy Monsters. I’m going to show you how to make these funky little creatures, so grab your sewing machine and fabric stash and let’s get started!

Here’s What You Need:

*My Free Patterns

*Fabric Scraps in Various Sizes

*Sewing Machine and Thread

*Hand Sewing Needle and Thread

*Embroidery Floss

*Stuffing

*Buttons

*Scissors

*Fabric Marking Pen or Pencil

*all seams are 1/4″

Patterns:

Step 1: Get the Pattern Ready- First you want to print out my patterns and cut them out. Next, find scraps that fit the pieces and mark the pieces on your fabric with your marking pen. Cut out pattern pieces. For small pieces I was sewing on like eyes and teeth I used some steam a seam double-sided fabric interfacing to adhere the pieces together. Now you are ready to start sewing!

Step 1: Stitch the details- First stitch around the eyes and teeth to outline the pieces. For the eyes I went around the piece a few times to make it look a little more crazy. Stitch around the teeth and lips too, and now would be a good time to stitch together the hair front and back pieces as well.

Step 2: Hand Sew the Faces- Take your marking pen and mark where you want the eyes to be, and draw in a mouth. Then stitch the mouthlines with your floss, using a basic back-stitch. Stack and sew the buttons on for the eye(s). It’s also fun to use an “x” instead of a button for an eye.

Step 3: Stitch the bodies- For monster A you want to stitch the head pieces onto the body pieces. Then stay stitch down the arms or legs of each monster, making sure that they point inwards towards the body, except for monster C. Also stitch hair to monsters A & B. Next, put your front and back pieces right sides together for monster A pin in place and stitch around the body leaving a few inches for turning out somewhere in the head area. For monster B take your body pieces and stitch them right sides together leaving a gap at the bottom. Also stitch the head pieces right sides together leaving a gap at the bottom as well for turning out and attaching the head to the body later. For monster C, stitch his body with wrong sides together so the seam allowance is on the outside, sandwiching the arms inside and leave a gap on the side for stuffing.

Step 4: Stuff- Turn all your monster A & B pieces right side out and stuff with poly fill. Stuff monster C and machine stitch the gap closed. Monster C is now finished. Hand stitch the opening on monster A closed with a slipstitch or hidden stitch. Monster A is now finished. For monster B, hand stitch the bottom of the body closed. Insert the nek into the hole in the bottom of the head and mark where it needs to fit with a marking pen. Stitch the head on both sides until you reach the marks. Then carefully stitch the head to the body using a slipstitch. And now monster B is done.

Aren’t they cute! Creepy cute! I love my Halloween monsters! And I love that this project only used scraps that I had lying around and a little fiber fill. It’s a great way to use up little pieces! I really like how versatile the design options are with all the different prints of fabric too! And they don’t have to be just for Halloween either! So make one up for your favorite little monster and be sure to tune in tomorrow for more Halloween fun!

As you all know by now I love shopping for vintage on Etsy! There are so many amazing finds and so many cool shops, one of my favorites is 30 One Vintage. This shop is fabulous! 30 One Vintage is full of vintage ephemera including fun Kewpie dolls and vintage playing cards. If you are a crafter, or someone with an eye for cool collections, definitely go check them out! I absolutely love everything in the shop, especially the vintage playing cards! I have picked out some of their Halloween themed finds for this post, but they carry so many eclectic things! Here are just a few of my recent favorites:

Aren’t they so cool! I just love the circus goodies! And the creepy cute doll heads are really fun! To see more of this super fun shop, check out 30 One Vintage on Etsy Here. And guess what! 30 One Vintage is giving 25% off your total purchase to all my lovely readers, just ut in the coupon code “MYSOCALLEDCRAFTYLIFE” at checkout. Isn’t that just fantastic! So go forth and buy to your little heart’s content

Hi everybody! Welcome to day 10 of my 13 Days of Halloween! Today I have a really fun and easy DIY for you! I am going to show you how to add decorative decals to thrift store plates to spell out a creepy quote. This is really easy, fun and pretty cheap to create!

Here’s What You Need:

*Quote

*Lazertran Waterslide Decal Paper

*Thrift Store Plates

*Water

*Clear Spray Paint or Laquer

*Plate Hangers or table easels for them

Step 1: Create Decal- The first thing you want to do is find a quote you like, and a font you like. I found my font at DaFont.com. There are a lot of really cool fonts out there! You can find my font at this link Here. Once you have your font, measure the width of your plates. I used photoshop elements to create a new page the size of an 8.5×11 paper. Then play with your font until you have the words the size you wish for the plates you have. Fit your words onto your 8.5×11 template and then follow the directions on your lazertrans for printing. Let your decals dry. You can spray them with clear spray paint of lacquer now or after they are on the plate. I prefer to spray them before hand. Once the decals are fully dry, cut your words out as close to the letters as possible.

Step 2: Apply Decals- Take your words and lay them out on your plates. Take your first word and drop it into a bowl of room temperature water. The decal will curl and then after about 30 seconds start to uncurl. Carefully lift the decal off of the backing. Lay the decal face up onto your plate and smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles with your fingers or a sponge. Repeat with other plates. Let decals dry. Once your plates are dry you are ready to decorate. You can hang them on a wall with plate hangers or you can put them on stands on a shelf or mantle.

I love how these turned out! They are really fun and really easy to make! I made them for my mom, so they are on stands instead of hangers so they can go on her mantle. They look really cute all bunched up together too! I already had lazertran paper and the plates only cost me $5. Next year I think I will make another batch of my own to hang in my lime green kitchen. There are so many quotes and design possibilities, I could make a ton of these! The best thing about this craft is that it isn’t just for Halloween, you can customize your quote and plates for any occasion! I hope I have inspired you to go out and make some of your own! Be sure to tune in next week for more Halloween goodies!

October is one of my favorite months of the year! Not only because my birthday is this month as well as my hubby and dad’s, but also because I absolutely love to decorate for Halloween as many of you kinda know by now. Pinterest has become such a source of inspiration for me and one of the boards I have started this past month was a Halloween board. Above are some of my favorite Halloween themed pins for the season. You can check out my board Hallowee Here for more ideas and inspiration. I hope you all enjoy!

As my mom can tell you, I can’t celebrate any holiday without making at least one bunting. I love buntings! They can be really easy to make and add a little bit of extra oomph to a room. A few weeks ago I found a great fabric store in Carborro, Mulberry Silks. They had some really great fabrics and an amazing section of lace and trims. One of the fabrics that caught my eye was The Ghastlies by fabric designer Alexander Henry. I absolutely fell in love with it! It reminds me of Edward Gorey’s work, which I absolutely adore! I knew right away I wanted to make a bunting with it. I typically have an “everything but the kitchen sink” design style, but for this bunting I wanted to keep it very simple because I love the whole design of the fabric. Fabric buntings like this one are really easy to make! All you do is cut your fabric out in the shapes that you like, like triangles, scallops, or little flags, then you stitch them to the back of some ribbon. It couldn’t be easier, and you can make a really big one in less than an hour. I think my bunting turned out to be pretty cute! The only thing I would do differently is use different ribbon. I used a glitter ribbon which puckered a lot when it’s not straight. There is a whole line of this awesome fabric! If you are in the Chapel Hill area you can find more from Alexander Henry at Mulberry Silks, or you can find them at fabricworm.com. The best thing about this bunting is that it doesn’t really scream Halloween so you can bust it out any time of the year! Be sure to tune in tomorrow for something wicked….

Hello everybody! Welcome to day 8 of my 13 Days of Halloween. Today I have an incredibly simple and cool DIY for you, painted creatures. I love to decorate for Halloween! I have to admit though I’m not into all the scary ugly spiders and monsters, I like my decor a little on the cute side. I hate the plastic rats and creepy crawleys, mostly because they make them look gross and creepy. So this year I decided to give them a new look and make them just a little cute. Creepy cute! All you need is spray paint and some plastic toys from the dollar store. I used white krylon spray paint for plastic on some of my rats and bats, and for the others I did a kind of mercury glass finish on them. To get the look, first you spray the surface of your object with water, then you apply looking-glass spray paint and let dry. Repeat coats until you have it like you like it. I think they look much cuter this way! I now have a mantle full of chic spray painted goodies including rats, spiders, and bats. The best part is that they were so inexpensive I spent less than $15 on all the supplies. So when in doubt, spray paint it! A little paint can spruce up just about anything. Even ugly Halloween rats. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more Halloween fun!

Hello there! Welcome to day 7 of my 13 days of Halloween! Today I have a cool craft to add some style to your mantel this year, spooky hurricane glass candle holders. This craft is really easy to make, and really inexpensive. I bought these hurricane style candle holders from the dollar store, and the candles came from Target. The most expensive was the transfer paper which is $18 for a pack of ten, but you can make a lot of decals with it. This was my first time using the waterslide decals. I thought they were really easy to use. The only thing I didn’t like is that you can see the clear edges of the decals, so next time I plan to cut my decals out as close to the picture as possible for the best look. These are really fast to make up too. I think it took me less than an hour to make these.

Here’s What You Need:

*Lazertran Waterslide Decals

*Clear Spray Paint or Laquer

*Glass candle holders

*Candles

*Water

*Printer

*Clip Art

Step 1: Make Decals- The first thing you are going to want to do is find clip art. I found mine at the Graphics Fairy here, she has all kinds of amazing free images. Definitely go check her out! Once you have your clip art, measure your candle holders and decide how tall you want to print out your decals. Then print them out on your lazertran paper. Follow the directions on the package for printing depending on which type of printer you have. Let the decals dry. Once the decals are dry spray them with the clear coat. Let dry. Cut the decals out as close to the edge of your pictures as you can get. Now you are ready to apply them to your vessel.

Step 2: Apply the Decals- The first thing you want to do is fill a bowl with water. Drop your decal in the water. It will curl up on you, but after 30 seconds or so it will start to uncurl and then it’s ready to come out. Carefully peel back a little of the backing paper from the decal. Position the top edge of your decal on the glass, and then carefully continue peeling the backing off of the backside of the decal as you smooth the decal onto the glass. Smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles with your fingers or with a sponge. Once the decal is smooth and how you like it, let it air dry. When it’s dry add a candle or fillers and enjoy!

I am pretty happy with how these candle holders turned out! I really liked using the transfer paper and know I will definitely be using it again! Overall it was a really fun craft! This would be great not only to decorate for Halloween, they would make great holiday gifts too! With all the wonderful clip art out there, there are so many design possibilities to choose from. You can customize them to your liking. I hope you all will try the lazertrans! They are expensive, but they are so fun as well! And be sure to tune in tomorrow for more fun Halloween ideas!

Hello everyone! Welcome to day 6 of my 13 Days of Halloween! Today I have something super fun to make, a mini haunted house bell jar. I love bell jars! Sometimes they can be hard to find, or really pricey. I was at the thrift store the other day and found an old plastic clock in a glass dome, and thought it might work for a bell jar. All you have to do is remove the clock. And at three dollars for the clock, it’s a great substitute!

Here’s What You Need:

*Template

*Exacto knife and self healing mat

*Cardstock

*Modge Podge

*Glitter

*Old domed glass clock

*Styrofoam Ball

*Knife

*Moss

*Hot Glue

*Little Branch

*Paint

*Spray Paint

Step 1: Form House- Print out template for the house. Cut out the template. I used an exacto to cut out the door and windows. Fold the tabs on the front and back and roof lines. Glue the front and back to the sides, and then glue on the roof. You can use black cardstock, or if you don’t have any like me, you can paint the cardstock black.

Step 2: Glitter House- Starting on one side of the house, paint a layer of modge podge onto the cardstock. Sprinkle the glitter over the wet glue, and then tap off. Repeat with the rest of the house.

Step 3: Make Hill- First cut your styrofoam ball in half so you have a small dome. Next, glue moss to the dome little bits at a time until you have covered your dome and there are no bald or thin spots. Then, take your painted little branch and insert it into the foam. Then glue the house on top of the hill.

Step 4: Finish Bell Jar- Remove the clock from the base. I cut the clips off with a dremel from the underside. Spray paint the base. When the paint is completely dry, place the hill with your house on top of the base and cover with the glass domed lid. And that’s it. Pretty easy right!

I really love how this little house turned out! It was really easy to make and it cost me around $10 for all of the supplies. I think it adds a spooky and cute vibe to the fireplace mantel. I am already on the lookout for more glass clocks to make some christmas themed domes. I hope you all enjoyed my DIY, and I hope I have inspired some of you to go out and make your own. Tune in tomorrow for more fun Halloween crafts! Until then…

Today I have some really fun vintage finds for you all! In the spirit of Halloween this week’s finds are inspired partly by that Old Black Magic, and partly by one of my favorite witches, Samantha of Bewitched. There are so many fabulous classic black vintage goodies on etsy! Here are just a few of my favorites:

Today I have a really special artist feature for you from across the sea in Malaysia! Zero Pumpkin is one of my absolute favorite Etsy shops! Pauline Teng, the artist behind Zero Pumpkin creates amazing plush, mini sculptures and other art goodies. Her characters are whimsical, and spooky cute! Each one has a super cool little personality. I love her drawings because they remind me of Tim Burton’s work. But one of my favorite things about Pauline’s work is that she gets a lot of inspiration from her kitty, Jino, and I have a special place in my heart for all things kitty. I love each and every one of the items in the Zero Pumpkin Shop! Here are just a few of my favorites:

Aren’t they all just flippin’ fantastic! I think they are! To see more of Pauline’s work, visit her shop Zero Pumpkin on Etsy Here. Zero Pumpkin has been featured in several magazines including the latest issue of Stuffed. You can check out more on her blog Here. Also be sure to check out the Facebook page Here, and you can find her on twitter Here.

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Hi! I'm Ashlee, and I love to create all kinds of lovely things! I spend my days creating and thrifting with my amazing hubby, three crazy cats, one very spoiled dog, and eight adorable chickens. Follow along with me for a heap of DIY projects, everything I just adore, and a healthy dose of vintage goodness.

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